Thurs Feb 20 - Lake Peck anchorage to Vero Beach Marina

In which Rick is a total Docking Boss

It is S O H O T...  So we slept badly and both decided to get up at 7am because no sleeping was happening.  You know what else wasn't happening?  The dingy over to the beach.  We just weren't feeling it - even with this great sunrise.  Anytime I have to see a sunrise I'm not going to be feeling like putting the dingy down. Or doing anything else...In case you readers aren't yet clear on my feelings about mornings.

 It was so calm we could see lots of things coming to the surface - turtle heads, manatee snout, old discarded bucket.  This last came up on our anchor line.  We both had alarming and alarmingly different thoughts about what we could use it for:
Rick: we can use it to bail
Me: I can use it to throw up in

 I took us out because Rick needs to learn about the anchor (according to me).  Here he is trying to make sense of the routine.  Fortunately THIS time the anchor was covered with mud (as well as snagged on a bucket) so now he has had the full experience.

Because we hadn't tested our adrenaline response in at least a week, we decided to do something we hadn't dared to do before.  We...... Wait for it...... Headed for the 'outside'.  *GASP*  No!  YES! Remember when I told my mother we wouldn't be on open ocean?  I lied (but she will never know since no one related to me is reading this blog). It looked like it would finally be calm enough (that is relative, of course), and we wanted to try it because there will be some outside runs required  - like when we leave the ICW to go from Cape May to New York Harbor.  Better to see how we do ahead of time...

Passing the last bit of land...

The captain confronted with A LOT OF WATER.

Getting out the inlet (or is it outlet?) was bouncy because of the conflicting current (note to selves - time this with tide in the future). (Oh, Rick says he did).  Then we settled down for 2.5 hours (I was counting) of rolling waves.  After the first few shrieks we were confident that the boat wasn't going to tip over, so we stared to enjoy the fact that we didn't have to worry about depth (and, therefore, we don't have to micro-manage the steering to stay in a narrow channel) or other traffic/wakes.  And the water was lovely, with the occasional turtle or dolphin swimming by, and birds diving into the water for a snack.  I felt a bit queasy, so I lay on the upper bridge couch to keep Rick company, and safe.

Isn't our wake pretty?!

We were both relieved to come back into the ICW at Fort Pierce, and even happier to see a familiar friend - the Vero Beach Marina.  We took on fuel, and I wanted to do the whole get-rid-of-the-poop thing (Called a Pump Out) all on my own.  Why, you ask - I'm a girl who likes to know how to do everything.  Although, I think I could have gone my whole life happy without that particular skill set.

Rick made one of the nicest dockings ever at the fuel dock.  But the maneuver to go from the fuel dock, down a narrow fairway and then back-in to our slip was tricky.  There were boats on all sides (boat tip - it's BAD to hit other boats and GOOD to not hit other boats) and, apparently, we were the afternoon entertainment because EVERYONE came out of their boats to watch.  Luckily, we had the most adorable dock attendant, Ryan, who - in a miraculous defiance of the laws of  physics, and using only a stern line, WHILE standing on the bow of the ship behind us - managed to help Rick get us safely into the slip.

We are happy to have gotten a space on the dock (and well in to the line, not on the face-dock), rather than the mooring ball we were planning on, because Mr. Weather says were are going to get gale force winds in the night and tomorrow.  Man, I hope it will lower the temperature...